Disaster Research 149

. . . Hello?

Is the blitz over?
Anyone still there?

A few days ago we were watching Walt Disney's "Fantasia" with our children and up popped "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." "Oh my gosh," we thought, "there we are! Disaster Research newsletters proliferating over and over and over and no matter what we do, we can't stop them."

In the end, all we can say is that we're sorry for the most recent incident of the computer-gone-nuts. Last spring the computer/network folks here at the University of Colorado told us that they had installed new software to prevent exactly the type of problem that recently occurred (returned mail accidentally being redirected back to the entire group), but as usual the machine outwitted its keepers. (Please note that we get *a lot* of returned mail - what most of you saw was just one message that, for reasons that are still unclear, managed to sneak back to the entire list every time it was returned.)

We are still wrestling with the problem, but the aforementioned computer folk tell us they have installed a temporary fix so that this DR, at least, can go out safely.

We'll see.

It's not easy being an Internaut - it's lonely out here on the cyberfrontier. The settlers are yelling for law and order, but the wilderness remains untamed.

That's enough metaphors for now. Again, sorry for the recent problems.

DR en Espanol!

We think that the following announcement bears repeating - it having been lost in the aforementioned cyberbrouhaha:

Thanks to the efforts of Ernesto Arias, Department of Environmental Design, University of Colorado and, especially, Rafael Oreamuno and Federico Salazar of the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Costa Rica, Disaster Research is now available in Spanish.

A distribution system is currently being worked out. For now, to obtain a copy, just send an e-mail message to hazctr@colorado.edu requesting the Spanish version of DR; include your name, affiliation, and, of course, your e-mail address. Issue #146 is currently available and other issues will be available soon. Future issues will include supplemental information particularly pertinent to Latin America.

Looking for Information on Gender and Disaster

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) is looking for information on "Gender Analysis Relating to Disasters" in general, but material from Asia and the Pacific region would be of particular interest. Any research, case studies or papers, as well as names and addresses of contact persons, would be very much appreciated. This search is done at the request of ITDG/Sri Lanka within a planned program to establish a disaster information network for South and South-East Asia.

If you have any information on this subject, kindly send by e-mail to:
adpc@cs.ait.ac.th
ADPC/AIT
P.O. Box 2754
Bangkok 10501, Thailand

Thank you,
Gunilla Gustafs, Information Officer
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Thailand

Looking for Information on Disaster Insurance

I am engaged in research on the incentives for private insurance purchases, and on the structure of the market for private insurance, in situations where such insurance may be useful in reducing the risk posed to property and other assets from natural or manmade disasters, but where public programs of disaster relief, regulation or public insurance are also in place. I would very much like to correspond briefly with someone in the US government, particularly in FEMA, SBA or similar agency, or with someone involved in the provision of government aid to disaster victims in other countries. The purpose of this correspondence would be to allow me to verify some of the
stylized "facts" about the structure and implementation of public disaster relief policies in the US and elsewhere. I would be happy to send copies of current working papers and research in progress; a good example of a published paper in this research program appears as T. Lewis and D. Nickerson, "Self-Insurance Against Natural Disasters," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 1989.

David Nickerson
Economics Dept
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington DC 20016-8029
(202) 885 3762
dnick@american.edu or dnick@auvm.american.edu

FRC Looking for Mitigation Documents

The Association of State Floodplain Managers' Floodplain Management Resource Center (FRC) is expanding to include documents that deal with mitigation and recovery from all natural hazards, not just flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supporting this effort to gather within the FRC written materials to help any state or local disaster manager, including floodplain managers, solve local mitigation problems. All materials received by the FRC are placed in the FRC library and summarized in a computer data base. Key word searches enable staff to quickly locate information meeting a user's specific needs.

If you have or know of any materials on mitigation planning or recovery that should be made available through the FRC, please send them to:

Clancy Philipsborn
The Mitigation Assistance Corporation
P.O. Box 19645
Boulder, CO 80308-2645
(303) 494-4242

To use the FRC resources, contact:

David Morton
Librarian
Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center
IBS #6
Campus Box 482
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0482
(303) 492-5787
fax: (303) 492-2151
e-mail: David.Morton@colorado.edu

Pacific ENSO Applications Center Created

A Pacific El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Applications Center has recently been established as a partnership among the University of Guam, the University of Hawaii, the National Weather Service Office of Global Programs, and the U.S.-affiliated governments of the Pacific region, through the Pacific Basin Development Council. The main purpose of the center is to develop and provide information advising government officials and other interested parties regarding cyclical changes in local weather and their impacts within the Pacific region arising from the ENSO climate cycle. Information will be translated into formats appropriate to support decision-making processes undertaken in the Pacific region, including decisions about natural disaster mitigation strategies. The center is currently located in the Prince Kujio Federal Building, 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 4328A, Honolulu, HI 96850. The outreach director, LTJG Alan Hilton, can be contacted at (808) 541-3638; fax: (808) 541-1655.

A Note on EEAs from NISEE

(or, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Earthquake Engineering) (and then some)

Earthquake Engineering Abstracts (EEA) provides access to literature in earthquake engineering and allied fields from 1984 to the present. The EEA data base is a project of the National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering (NISEE), a public service project of the National Science Foundation at the Earthquake Engineering Research Center (EERC), University of California at Berkeley. A companion printed index, the "Abstract Journal in Earthquake Engineering," has been published since 1971.

The EEA data base provides interdisciplinary access to more than 100 journal titles plus selected conference proceedings, reports, videos, maps, and other informational materials in virtually all fields related to earthquake engineering - from seismology to public policy. EEA is accessible via the MELVYL system - the University of California online catalog system. Once in the system, type "explain eea" for a brief description. To enter the data base, type "use eea."

HDP also Online

One Reader Suggests Reading

Perhaps it's old news, but the July 1994 issue of Washington Geology (v. 22, n. 2) hasn't been mentioned in Disaster Research. Issued quarterly, the July edition describes some ways that earth scientists and planners are involved in implementing the State of Washington's Growth Management Act.

Effective July 1, 1990, the Growth Management Act requires cities and counties that exceed a certain growth threshold to classify and designate critical areas that have geological hazards and important agricultural, forestry, and mineral resource lands.

The issue summarizes the evolution of the Act and its implementation, some practical issues that face governmental agencies as they begin to carry out hazard reduction and growth management strategies, some significant geohazards facing Washington, and relevant case histories. Several articles cite other references that can be consulted.

Single copies of the July issue of Washington Geology may be requested via phone (206-902-1450), fax (206-902-1785), e-mail (Bitnet: cjmanson@carson; Internet: cjmanson@u.washington.edu), or snail-mail (Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Earth Resources, P.O. Box 47007, Olympia, WA 98504- 7007). You may also request to be added to the subscribers list. (It's all free!).

Ted Smith
California Division of Mines and Geology
ted.smith@cdmg.uucp.netcom.com

A New Internet List for Public Safety Communications

The Public-Safety Communications Electronic Mailing List is for the exchange of non-confidential information about police, fire and EMS telecommunications. Discussions concerning technical and operational issues are encouraged. To subscribe, send a message to:
majordomo@tcomeng.com
with no subject and the following in the body of the note:
subscribe dispatch
To post a message to the mailing list readership, simply send e-mail to this Internet address:
dispatch@tcomeng.com
Your message will automatically be forwarded to all subscribers. We may be contacted by e-mail or telephone for further information about this mailing list.

David Black
at408@freenet.carleton.ca

Daryl Jones
daryl@tcomeng.com

Voice: (415) 877-8676

FEMA on the Net (!)

(Thanks to our friend Art Botterell and his Nets newsletter for the following information)

On a Flood Warning Scheme in the U.K.

The Isle of Wight, (UK), has been chosen as a testbed for an experimental flood alert system which could become a model for the rest of the country. Automated recorded voice announcements will soon be giving Island residents and business people an individual warning, over the telephone, of the risk of flooding to their property.

The pilot scheme, which is about to get under way, follows the acquisition by the National Rivers Authority (NRA) of the latest voice information technology that seems likely to transform the way owners and occupiers of "at risk" homes and businesses will be given flood alerts in future. The Island, which has suffered severe flooding during the last two winters, is considered to be an ideal place to test the new, state-of-the-art, computer-activated equipment.

The Emergency Planning Section, which has helped to set up the NRA-sponsored pilot scheme, is now starting the task of compiling details of "at risk" local properties to feed into the new computer system. It has advertised for those with properties susceptible to coastal or river flooding to get in touch, so they can take part in the experiment.

The system will be triggered when the NRA becomes aware of the possibility of flooding affecting Island properties. A computer at its Worthing headquarters will automatically telephone individual "high risk" properties to give a recorded alert message. It is hoped these personal alert calls will give householders and business people more time to take defensive action against possible flooding. The recorded voice announcements will advise recipients to tune in to local radio, to receive further, updated information about how the flooding risk is developing.

Further information or comments, contact:

Mike Jolliff - Senior EPO, Emergency Planning Section
Mail - epo@iowep.demon.co.uk

A Recent Research Grant of Note

"Clinical Care Provided by DVA Mobile Clinic Staff During Hurricane Andrew Relief Efforts." Grantor: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. $90,000. 12 months. Principal Investigator: Thomas W. Weiss, Health Services Research and Development Field Program, VA Medical Center (152), 2002 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030, (713) 794-7610; fax: (713) 794-7103.